Bottle-crate.



P. E. HOPGRENJ I BOTTLE CRATE.

APPLICATION FILED IAB. 21, 1910.

994,397, Patented June 6,1911.

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FRANK E. HOFGBEN, 0F BRbOKLYN, NEW YORK.

BOTTLE-CRATE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 6, 1911.

Application filed March 21, 1910 Serial No. 550,757.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK E. HOFGREN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Brooklyn, county of Kings, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bottle-Grates, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, wherein- Figure 1 is a plan view of my improved clamp; Fig. 2 is a side elevation; Fig. 3 an end elevation thereof; and Fig. 4: a perspective view of a bottle-crate, showing my improved clamp in position, holding the bottles set therein.

My invention relates to packing devices, and consists of the hereinafter more fully described device, adapted to be set into, and secured in the hand holes of, a bottle-crate for holding the bottles firmly in place when so set in the bottle-crate, so that the crate may be turned upside down, to drain the bottles, without any danger of the bottles dropping out of it.

My improved clamp consists of two bars a and a, shaped as shown in Fig. 3, to conform to the shape of the bottles for which it is to be used, and of two springs b and I), having their ends secured in the bars a and a, so as to join them together as shown in Fig. 1, the said springs forming handles 0, for manipulating the clamp and skeleton tongues or braces d, contemplated to enter the hand holes 0 of the bottle-crate A, when the clamp is set in place. The springs are laterally bent into a Z-shape, to permit the tongues d being drawn into the position indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2, when the clamp is to be set into the crate and to return them to their normal positions (see full lines in Fig. 2) when the pressure exerted upon the handles 0, drawing them together, is released.

While my invention is designed primarily for crates for milk bottles, it is equally suitable for use in connection with bottles otherwise shaped. Springs 6 and 6 permit the drawing apart of bars a and a, and have the tendency to press them together. object of this is to secure a better hold of the clamp upon the bottles in the crate, and to this end, also, the cross-sectional shape of the bars a and a may be varied according The to the size and shape of the bottles in the crate. By reason of this, my improved clamp may be readily used in any box crate provided with hand holes, and readily set in position and removed.

The crates for milk bottles which I had primarily in view, are made usually of a size to accommodate one dozen of quart bottles arranged in three rows of four bottles each. The bottles are thus practically equidistantly apart in the box, and the shape of the bars a and a, as shown in Fig. 3 of the drawing, is developed to conform to the shape of the upper part of the bottles, some distance below the neck. The distance between the two bars a and a is slightly less than the diameter of that part of the milk bottles. Thus, when setting the clamp in its position, the bars a and a are forced somewhat apart, by the resistance of the middle row of bottles f in the crate, and consequently, pressed against the bottles in the two side rows of the crate. bars a and a hold all three rows of the bottles firmly in position in the crate, even if no provision be made for assisting in retaining them by such correspondingly placed slats like 9, as shown in Fig. 4. These slats assist in the attainment of the object of my invention, they are not essential thereto.

I claim as my invention:

l. A clamp for bottle crates comprising clamping bars adapted to laterally engage the bottles, and uniting springs between said clamping bars, said springs having opposed Z-shaped arms, two of the limbs of each arm being united by a coil, the uppermost limbs of said arms beingunited by a curved yoke-like portion.

2. A clamp for bottle-crates comprising two bars, shaped to approximately correspond to the contour of the neck part of the bottles, two springs having reentrant angled outline and joining the bars together, the outer terminals of said springs forming skeleton tongues, adapted to enter the hand holes of the bottle-crate, formed on the springs.

FRANK E. HOFGREN.

Witnesses: EMMA D. NEVIN, 1

ALFRED L. MARILLEY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

' Washington, I). C.

Thus the 

